The '68 World's Fair was located in San Antonio, Texas. Ticking all the boxes on the World's Fair requirement form, there was a Tall Pointy Thing with a revolving restaurant at the top, and lots of flags all over the place. The theme was "The Confluence of Civilizations in the Americas", which is about as strangely egocentric as we can get while still qualifying as an "international event".
So what's there now? Lots of stuff from the fair, actually! Kudos to San Antonio for not bulldozing all the interesting stuff to put up fifty Wal-Marts.
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| An unfortunate angle on the Tower of the Americas, as it stands today, in the shadow of The Dumpster of the Parking Lot. |
The convention center is also still there, and now houses a theater. There are a few government buildings, the University of Texas, and the Institute of Texan Cultures is there (read: shooting range).
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3 comments:
This wasn't an official Worlds Fair. The official World Expo was in Montreal in 1967. This was during a period of American exceptionalism when the USA held "World's Fairs", like in New York in 1964, that were not sanctioned by any world body. USA! USA!
Actually HemisFair '68 was endorsed by the BIE as a Special Category international exposition, similar to World's Fairs held in Seattle (1962) and Spokane (1974).
My mom and I went many times. I was thrilled with the Aztec and other performances from indigenous tribes of the Americas, as well as the food!
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